This is a group blog written by reporters and editors of The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

October 30, 2008

If you wait for cabs long enough, you'll start to know the drivers

Ann Marie McQueen

When I first arrived in Abu Dhabi, it seemed as though there were nine million cabs with as many drivers. They all melted into each other; I couldn't tell them apart. Seven months later, as I steadfastly refuse to purchase a vehicle or drive on roads where drivers think it is perfectly acceptable to reach speeds of 106km/h (should they find an open stretch), stalk and try to force off the road someone who has made them angry by, say, changing lanes, or have an endless love affair with horns, it's understandable that I am going to come across some of the same characters.

There is the fellow who won't pick me up, as my destination does not seem to gel with where he would like to go. 'Oh THAT guy', I think now and, for fun, just to see if he will have changed, poke my head in when he pulls over. Sure enough, he does not want to go where I want to go. Even though I would be paying him to go there. Where is he going, exactly?

A long time ago I took a cab and marvelled as the driver combed his beard for much of the 10-minute journey. Well, the other day I got into a cab and thought 'wow, that really looks like the man who combed his beard that time' only to notice he was clutching a shiny yellow plastic comb. As soon as he didn't need to keep his hands on the wheel, guess what he did? Comb away. Same well-groomed man. Then there is the nice driver who stops to give me a lift to work even though he has just picked up his son Hamdan from school. I sit in the back, with Hamdan's Crazy Car knapsack, and Hamdan sits in the front, acting up the entire time, while his dad pretends to be mad that he's taken off his seat belt, or is kicking the glove-box, or fiddling with the sun visor. But really, you can just tell he's happy he's got Hamdan in the car.

Familiar people - in a place that sometimes feels more foreign the longer I am here - are more comforting than I can say.